Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Gilbert Water Ranch: Ground-doves

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Birding is Fun!

My life bird Ruddy Ground-dove!

I believe this is a Common Ground-dove, but I do have some reservations that make me question the i.d.. The head doesn't show any scaliness. The picture below shows the rufous primaries that both Ruddy Ground-doves, Common Ground-doves, and Inca's have. The bill as seen in the photograph doesn't have a pinkish or orange color as shown in Sibley's, but it is close enough in color to those shown in photographs in Stokes'. The tail looks a bit long for a Common in the photo below, but the color pattern is right. Hmmm...a lighter colored Ruddy Ground-dove? a hybrid perhaps? Any Ground-dove experts out there?

Rufous wing feathers shown in flight

Below are Ground-dove range maps according to eBird recording sightings. I am very excited about all the Central and South America sightings showing up in eBird. Over time, this will significantly increase our understanding of where our birds go during the North American winter.

You can see that the two species of Ground-dove have a similar range, but the Ruddy doesn't get into North America all that frequently. Inca Doves share similar range and habitat to Common Ground-doves. I was priviledged to have Inca Doves visit my yard regularly when we lived in Mesa, AZ.

I think your mystery bird here is another Ruddy Ground-Dove, a female. Females of the western subspecies are much grayer than males, and grayer than eastern birds of either sex. I think yours is a Ruddy because of the relatively long tail, unmarked breast and nape (no scaliness, as you pointed out), and sparsely marked lesser coverts. Good bird and thanks for sharing!

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